


Undercover Dance

by Krisser__kris



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: First Time, M/M, Undercover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-02-14
Updated: 2002-02-14
Packaged: 2017-12-05 16:19:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/725307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krisser__kris/pseuds/Krisser__kris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An undercover assignment leads to startling personal discoveries for the Jim and Blair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Undercover Dance

**Author's Note:**

> Part of My Mongoose Ezine: Many Valentine Tales of the Sentinel - Feb 14, 2002

** Undercover Dance **

**by Krisser**

 

“Sandburg, Ellison! My office,” Simon Banks yelled loudly out across the bullpen. He smiled to himself as he turned to his desk, wondering what excuse they would use to squirm out of this one.

The two detectives looked at each other and shrugged, they hadn’t been in long enough to get into trouble.

“Looks like you boys have earned detention again,” Brown smirked as they went by.

“Well, you should see the detention teacher,” Blair quipped back, wiggling his brows as he walked backward. He almost bumped into his partner as they stopped at Simon’s door.

Jim’s face remained impassive, but he stretched his hearing in case the Captain was muttering to himself. Nothing.

“Sit down, gentlemen,” Simon said as he pointed to the chairs in front of his desk. “Coffee?”

The team of Ellison and Sandburg looked at each other and passed a look that said they were in for a bad assignment. Both men nodded for the coffee.

Simon poured and handed the men the mugs of the steaming South American brew.

“Guatemalan,” Jim commented after taking a sip.

Blair enjoyed just holding the warm mug in his hands.

Simon knew he had the attention of both men so he started right in, “Senator Jaxton will be in Cascade this weekend and the Mayor wants…”

“The man has his own detail, I hate the standing around doing nothing assignments,” Jim broke in with.

“If you would let me finish,” Simon’s voice rose a notch. Jim sat back in his seat.

“The Senator is in town to attend the Pflag’s Valentine’s Day Ball. The Mayor wants overt coverage and undercover coverage. You’re the undercover team.” Simon sat back and waited.

“What?” Blair choked on a sip of coffee.

“Why us, sir?” Jim ground out.

“There have been some threats on the Senator’s life and the Mayor…”

“No, I meant, why Sandburg and myself?” Jim clarified.

Simon took a sip of his coffee before he answered. “Because I don’t think you would look as out of place as some of the other teams.”

“What? Are you saying…” Blair began only to have Simon interrupt.

“I say that because of the …sense thing. You two are comfortable with touching each other, it wouldn’t looked faked.”

“That’s a grounding thing,” Blair began to explain before Banks cut him off.

“I know that Sandburg, and that’s why you two will carry this off,” Simon decreed.

“But, sir...”

“Jim, with your hearing, you’ll be able to listen in and find out if there is substance behind the threats.”

“Okay, so you just want us to stand around and...”

“No I want you two to blend. The police will have uniforms there, around the perimeter. You are undercover, you have to act like it.” Simon looked at his notes, “The Ball runs from 7pm to 2am. I want you there for the duration. It’s fancy dress. Bill the department; the Mayor said he’d cover it. Don’t go nuts there, Sandburg, I see that look in your eye.”

“Me, sir?” Affecting a wounded expression.

“Just don’t go overboard.”

Sandburg raised his hands, palms facing out and shook his head, looking as innocent as he could manage.

Jim just shook his head.

Simon stared at his officers, expecting them to leave when Jim asked another question.

“Whom do we check in with? Anyone in the Senator’s party?”

“No one. Besides myself, only the Mayor will know why you’re there. The Senator is taking the threat seriously and isn’t sure if the threats don’t originate closer to him than his team has led him to believe.”

Resigned, Ellison sighed, “Yes, sir.”

Sandburg nodded. He was apprehensive about the dance, not because he was worried that he couldn’t carry it off. No, he was worried that he might give himself away.

\-------

During the week, Blair used his fingers to seek information, Jim used his contacts. They discovered that the openly gay Senator had received a lot of superficial threats, and there did seem to be some substance to the current concern. The threats were not only against him, but his family and friends as well.

Blair had checked the polls and found that his percent rating was high. His constituents were pleased. He had kept his two campaign promises so all else had faded to the background. Evidently lower taxes helped one to ignore his personal life.

He did discover that there was a faction that hated the Senator and all he represented. An FBI source of Jim’s warned them not to take that group lightly. The OTN –Only The Normal- were a small group with big financial backing. They had plagued the South and the East Coast, now they had their sights on the West Coast.

The Ellison-Sandburg team gave the information to their Captain so he could pass it along. The Mayor had found it hard to believe that the two Major Crime detectives could find something that the Senator’s people could not, but he wasn’t above taking the credit when the Senator’s Security Chief was elated with the findings.

H and Megan weren’t above teasing the duo. “Hear you’re going to a sweetheart ball.”

“Yeah, and don’t you wish you were going?” Blair smiled.

“That’s one I’d love to see Mate. You and Jimbo gonna dance?”

Jim answered coming up behind Sandburg, “Connor, we’re professionals, we’ll do what we must to maintain our cover.”

“Hot damn, I hear the johns are hard to get into,” H laughed all the way to the coffee room.

Jim rolled his eyes and Blair shook his head, they had been the butt of jokes all week.

The only time that Blair questioned his agreement to participate in the charade happened in the rental store. They didn’t need the full tux, but they did need clothes fancier than either man had in their closets.

Jim decked out in the near formal clothes had Blair frozen in admiration. He could feel his heart speed up and he forced himself away from the mesmerizing sight.

The Sentinel missed the oddities in his guide’s heart rate, as Jim couldn’t shake the uncomfortable recollections of childhood country club gatherings. The formal dress wear always brought back memories. Few, if any were good.

The detective shifted his gaze to his partner and lost his melancholy as his guide’s stomach and chest became viewable. Jim watched, captivated, as Blair exchanged shirts for a less rough one. Only the running commentary by the talkative man kept him from zoning.

Jim forced his thoughts away, trying not to dwell on the amount of time lately that he spent thinking of his partner.

With tampered glee, Jim put the department credit on the counter.

\-------

Detectives Ellison and Sandburg arrived just before opening. Jim noted where all the visible officers were located. With his guide’s grounding, the Sentinel swept for weapons and located several. Checking against the pictures that his partner had in his jacket pocket, the detectives identified all of the Senator’s bodyguard staff.

It was time to enter and begin their assignment. Both men took deep breaths, Blair to cleanse his aura and Jim as a countdown to the assignment’s end. They presented their tickets and entered.

The auditorium was decorated in hearts. Heart shaped bowls held heart shaped candy. The room was filled. Blair figured that it was seventy five percent male and twenty five percent female. The division reminded him of Junior High School, the girls on one side, the boys on the other. Only this time no one expected the boys and girls to dance together.

Using the hunt for food and drink as cover, the detective team walked the entire room. With Blair’s arm about his waist, Jim stretched his hearing and focused on different groups along the way. He became privy to much inside gossip that he’d have to share with his partner later, but nothing of importance.

They filled their plates at the buffet and mingled with a few guests as they ate. Watching the crowd, they figured that dancing would allow them ease to move all about the room.

Jim was surprised at how natural it felt to dance with Sandburg. He seemed to fit in his hold. They danced about the floor, and as the dance styles changed he was ever thankful for the dance lessons his father had forced on Stephan and him. There didn’t seem to be a dance type that Blair didn’t know, but with his upbringing there was no telling where he could have learned them all.

Blair’s hair rested on his fingers. He could feel its silkiness with just the touch. Just how sensitive was his skin, that he could separate and note just one strand of Blairhair on his knuckle. He couldn’t recall anything softer.

The cadence under his fingers matched what he was hearing, the curiosity of that brought him back far enough that he could hear Blair’s voice calling him. He’d always answer that voice.

“Yeah, Blair?”

“You zoned, man.”

Jim looked around and tried to remember….oh, the dance. “Guess I was blocking out too much.”

Blair moved closer, “Do you know what triggered it, Jim?”

“Not really,” he lied. “I think there was too much and I was concentrating too hard,” he finished up lamely.

Blair grabbed him into the dance position and said lowly, “Let’s reset your dials, man.”

Jim didn’t resist, it was better than trying to explain a sudden fixation for his partner’s hair.

\---------

Blair was trying real hard to concentrate on the scientific rather than how good it felt to be dancing with his very male partner. At least this event allowed it without so much of a glance, but Blair had to stay aware so he wouldn’t give away too much.

He danced in the loose hold of the waltz and had a bit more fun with the fox trot. He was surprised that Jim knew the old dances, then Jim had mumbled about forced dance lessons and they grinned together.

He was working so hard to keep his body from reacting to Jim’s nearness that he didn’t see Jim go into a zone. He brought Jim’s hand over to his throat and called softly to Jim to come back. It was less than a minute before Jim answered but Blair was worried all the same. He could have prevented it if only his body wasn’t trying to out him.

He worked all of Jim’s dials, double-checking so it wouldn’t happen again. The guide figured that it had concerned his Sentinel also, for he hadn’t objected to the double check at all.

After each dance the Ellison-Sandburg team ended up in a different spot within the room. They’d check the area and resume dancing. Jim found himself holding his guide closer as the night went on.

At one point a man tried to cut in, he tapped Jim on the shoulder and when Jim didn’t release Blair the man tried to nudge Jim away from Blair.

Jim slapped the hand away, “One, you keep your hands off. Two, you don’t try to poach another man’s date.” The ‘I’d kill you if we were alone’ stare had the man scurrying away.

In an unconscious gesture, Jim pulled Blair tighter to his body.

Blair felt himself react to Jim’s closeness. The feel of his body, the manly scent that was all Jim. He felt himself harden and pulled away from his dance partner.

“I’m thirsty, can we go get something to drink.”

Jim shook his head, like coming out of a fog and answered, “Sure, Chief.” Jim led them to the bar.

Jim ordered an ice tea and Blair had orange juice. Both drinks gave the illusion that alcohol was being consumed.

As they passed a mirror, Blair could see that his hair was half out of his ponytail holder. Blair put down his orange juice to retie back his hair. He then picked up his drink and gulped it down. Blair found himself coughing as he had picked up the wrong drink and the vodka warmed his throat going down. Blair sniffed the cups for his and finished it to erase the taste from his mouth.

Blair drank beer, but hardly ever drank the harder liquor. He wasn’t drunk, by any means, but he felt relaxed and not quite as inhibited as the alcohol effected him quickly.

The opening cords of a tango filled the room and the dance floor emptied. Blair grabbed Jim’s hand and said, “I love to Tango. You game?”

Jim smiled indulgently. He remembered the rudiment steps. He could follow. “If you lead.”

Blair smiled and took Jim to the middle of the dance floor. Blair pulled him close and Jim matched his steps to his partner’s. The opening moves, recognizable to all, were easy to mimic. With Blair’s hand signals, Jim knew when they’d make the turn. Then, with a wicked look, Blair tore out his hair tie and snapped Jim for the return walk.

The music subtlety changed and a more sensual backbeat governed the lead dancer. On each turn Blair rubbed his body up and down on Jim’s, passion igniting the blood.

The pounding of the rhythm caught Jim and he became lost in the sensual haze of the music and his partner. His body was on fire and he couldn’t keep away from the flame. He answered each body rub with his own. Their tented trousers were taut with their erections. Their conditions went unnoticed, the sensations did not. Every movement matched the rhythm set by the music; every movement brought their bodies in closer contact.

A single drop of sweat ran down Blair’s face onto his neck and Jim couldn’t resist its siren call. His tongue struck with lightening force and quickness and the drop was gone. The taste exploded on his tongue.

Blair’s skin ignited where Jim’s tongue had licked it and neither man was aware of the collective ohs and ahs that their seductive dance elicited.

Blair ran his hand up Jim’s muscular leg, squeezing the inner thigh as he let his finger’s graze along the bulging erection. The rhythm of the music masked the answering thrusts of Jim’s hips. Blair gently cupped the shaft and balls before running his hand up the center of his partner’s body. He stopped at the neck, which he grabbed and brought the face connected down so he could brush his lips against Jim’s. Just as quickly, he released him and snapped him out for a twirl and tug back.

Again their bodies brushed by the other, both men hissing their pleasure as they moved right then left and right again. The band had stopped and all that was left was the flamenco guitar that played the last haunting melodies of the dance. Blair set himself up for the dip, knowing that Jim would never let him fall. Arched over Jim’s arm, Blair’s hair brushed the ground as the song ended.

Silence reigned as the dancers held their positions. Blue eyes bored into blue eyes, questions asked and answered on the level that only their inner souls could interpret. Working on pure instinct, Jim pulled Blair up to crush their lips together, a sealing of the pact their eyes made. Blair wrapped his leg around Jim, pulling him closer.

Applause exploded through the entire auditorium. It took a minute for Jim and Blair to realize that it was for them. They had both forgotten where they were. Flustered, they made their way to the buffet table. Blair went to get them something fresh to drink.

Jim waited with the desert plates, thinking there was someone else he’d rather feast on. The endorphins were still pumping through his body. He overheard an older man comment on the longhaired dancer.

“My, my, that boy could tango with me anytime.”

Jim just couldn’t stand it, he all but marched over, “He’s a man, he’s taken, and he’s mine.” Jim staked his claim loudly.

Blair had come up right behind him and after hearing Jim’s proclamation slid his body right across Jim’s. Jim reached out and grabbed him, holding him in place. His cock took note and reclaimed its readiness.

The Sentinel detected the scent of musk and rubbed himself against the arousal he smelt. He teased himself and his guide with the slow movement back and forth, burning their blood.

It took the shouting of his name close by his ear before he could pull away from his partner.

“ELLISON!” Captain Banks yelled from across the buffet table.

Spell broken, the detectives broke apart.

“Yes, Simon?” Jim asked, taking the bottle of water from Blair’s hand. “What are you doing here?”

“Mayor’s request. Connor’s with me somewhere.” Simon answered, trying to figure out what he had missed. “We just arrived. Heard we missed a great performance.”

“Yeah, that’s what we heard.” Blair recapped his water bottle, wondering if Jim would ever acknowledge what had happened.

“Anything?” Banks asked.

“Nothing related

“Okay, Connor and I will be around.” Simon started to walk away then said over his shoulder, “You and the Kid dancing much?”

“We’re doing our share,” Jim half smiled the answer. Blair smiled with his hands inside his pockets.

Simon nodded as he walked away.

Blair came up behind his partner, “The Senator’s staff seem to be conferring rather anxiously, can you catch any of it?”

Jim looked over to where his partner indicated and nodded. The Sentinel focused his hearing on the small group, listening intently as his guide grounded him.

“They’ve received a warning that something will happen here. They have no idea what or when.” He dialed down his hearing as he refocused on his guide.

Blair kept his hand on his partner’s back as he suggested, “Let’s dance out to the middle of the room, one by one, you block out all the unnecessary sounds and listen in on every conversation.”

“I can’t do that,” Jim shook his head.

“Yeah, you can. It’s just like when you eliminated the sounds in the airport. After you listen in, if it’s not the one you want, filter it out. Do it again and again ‘til all that’s left is the one you want.”

“Chief, that could take a while. I’ll zone…too concentrated.” Jim wasn’t sure he could do this, but as Sandburg had faith, at least he could give it a try.

“No, I’ll keep you grounded. We’ll be on the dance floor. I’ll have my hands all over you.” The guide smiled as he told the Sentinel his plan.

Jim found his body reacting to the notion of Blair’s hands all over his body.

Blair unbuttoned the two buttons closest to the cummerbund. He slipped his hand inside and spread his fingers. Solely focused on his partner, Blair missed many admiring looks from other men but Jim didn’t. He found himself wanting to growl at anyone who looked at his partner that way.

Blair’s words refocused his thoughts, “Ready? First eliminate the music, then the noise made by the dancers…” Blair continued to eliminate different sounds as Jim completed each previous suggestion.

Finally, all that was left were the conversations, seemingly, hundreds of conversations. While rubbing the bare skin of his Sentinel’s stomach and back, Blair had Jim relay a snippet of each conversation and then filter it out.

“This might be it, Chief. They’re discussing a public humiliation. They say that the Senator has a dancing habit of cupping the groin of his partner. They plan to photograph that. They also have some video equipment back at the hotel room. To do that, Chief, one of his staff has to be in on it.”

Using his guide voice, Blair directed, “Focus on that conversation, dial up a bit so you can tell which direction it’s coming from. Then see if you can piggyback your sight so you can get a good look at who’s there.”

Following the instructions implicitly, Jim complied and was able to see the Senator’s Chief of Security’s second in command as part of the group. “Okay, got’em.”

Jim danced his partner to the area of the conversation. He twirled Blair out so he could see then whipped him back as they discussed how to get closer. Jim brushed Blair’s lips with his own before letting him go.

Blair’s fingers automatically came up and rested on the kissed part of his lips. Slightly bemused, he wondered if Jim was just playing his undercover role. He shook his head to clear it and circled the opposite way that Jim did. Blair tried to keep his eyes on the targets but they kept flitting back to Jim. He realized that he truly enjoyed watching his partner and not just in a lustful way.

Jim encountered the conspirators first. His cover was blown immediately.

“He’s a cop. The Senator alerted the Cascade PD,” the staff member disclosed as Jim closed the gap.

Two bigger men grabbed Jim tightly and led him to a secluded alcove near the kitchen.

Blair watched and furtively made his way to his partner. He whispered sentinel soft, “The two staff members are moving away. I’m coming up on the left. I will make direct contact.”

Blair walked up to the two large lackeys, “I suggest, in the interest of your safety, that you unhand my partner.” Blair spoke in a calm, matter of fact manner.

“We got the big, buff partner, no little fag guy scares us,” the large man not holding Jim sneered.

Pissed off but controlled, Blair responded with information, “Well, this little fag guy is a Cascade PD officer and was #1 in his defense class.”

“Hey, Chief, you forgot to mention that the Yanomamo headhunters taught you a thing or two.”

“Thanks Jim,” Blair smiled a bright smile at his partner. He turned to look at their captors, “My partner is being modest, he was CIA trained and he knows ten ways to kill you while he’s being held captive. So why don’t you just put the gun down and we all walk out alive, or, it will be just Jim and I that walk out alive…your choice.”

“Say, Chief, I just don’t think they believe you.” Jim winked at his partner.

The man with the gun took it off Jim and turned it on Blair. Jim then got seriously pissed. With a single arm movement he knocked the gun out of the perps hand and then broke his nose with the heel of his own hand.

Meanwhile, Blair rolled across the floor, took out the other man’s legs and had him cuffed before Jim could clear his head. He took out his cell and called Simon.

\------

After the conspirators were rounded up and removed and Simon was left with the job of talking to the Senator, Jim and Blair just returned to the dance floor.

Several quiet, slow dances passed and neither man had said a thing. Each were lost in their own tumultuous thoughts, for each knew that more than a just undercover assignment was happening here.

Jim could no longer hide from himself. He had really enjoyed kissing his partner, his very male partner. Blair was his best friend, his work partner that he trusted more than he trusted himself. He was his guide for the long haul, and now he wanted him for his life partner. The most amazing part, Jim realized, was that he was all right with all these thoughts. A goofy grin made its way to his face, he really wanted Blair, and by gauging the reaction from Blair’s body, it wasn’t a great leap to think that Blair wanted him too.

Blair was in bliss. He was dancing in Jim’s arms, up close and personal. He didn’t have to worry about his body’s reaction or the scent of arousal that must be smothering the Sentinel. Jim’s body language wasn’t stiff or angry. In fact, the state of his body language was pretty forthcoming. Blair snuggled in closer and Jim made room.

The bandleader watched the slow dancing couple and hoped they would dress up his music again.

Blair recognized the opening melody of a rumba and wanted Jim to dance with him. They were able to express so much within the accepted confines of dance. “Just follow my lead, then just feel the music.”

Jim nodded, following Blair was never hard. He filtered out the rest of the room and concentrated on the music and Blair.

The Senator placed a hand on Banks’ arm, halting their conversation. He pointed out to the dancing couple. Simon looked to Megan; her smile confirmed who he thought was out there.

The music was just a buzz in the background. The rhythmic beat was the only incoming message for the Sentinel. The bewitching eyes, eyes that dared him to play, mesmerized Jim. He ghosted his hands over a body so sensual that he was afraid that he would burst into flames.

Blair moved them about the floor, adding more and more to the dance. Jim followed his guide with practiced ease. One was the music, Blair never lost contact with his partner. One hand moved inside the shirt as the other was kept on Jim’s hip. His fingers teased the Sentinel’s sensitive skin and he felt the answering twitches of the straining muscles.

Blair’s passion flowed throughout his body and Jim could feel it and thus, he experienced it also. As their body’s brushed together, their erections grew unnoticed by the two dancers, so lost in the magic they created together. As the music hit its crescendo and the final stands played, Blair slid on his knees through Jim’s legs, stopping only as his arms hooked onto Jim’s thighs. Blue eyes keyed on the other set for the entire dance.

The applause thundered throughout the room. Simon handed over a twenty to Connor. She had bet him that Jim and Blair had been the dancers they had heard about earlier. All the whispers throughout this dance confirmed it.

The Senator spoke to the band and they started another sassy number. The Senator was enjoying the dancing couple. The Latin beat was sure to garner the crowd another sexy dance. He wasn’t disappointed; the dancers that had put all others to shame remained on the floor.

He watched as they arched into each other giving shape to the Latin sex dance. Most other couples vacated the floor, wanting to watch the dancers giving music form. Sexy, hot and legal, the Senator smiled, his Valentine’s Day dance was a success.

As the salsa music ended, Blair ran his fingers up the clothed but primed shaft and was rewarded with orgasmic shudders from his partner.

Eyes shinning with delight, Blair hissed, “Oh lord, I do turn you on.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Jim was surprised at the joy radiating off his guide. He seemed pleased that so little could set him off, it had always been a problem before.

“What more do I need to know?” Blair breathed softly against Jim’s neck, a smile forming on his face.

“That lust for your bod is only a small part of what I feel,” Jim whispered back daringly into the hair covered ear.

“What else is there?” Blair took a hope filled breath.

“Love and lots of it.”

The simple, truthful reply stunned Blair. He just grabbed Jim tighter and gulped in air of relief.

Jim froze in fear, no words from Blair was never a good thing.

Sensing the apprehension, Blair kissed the closest exposed skin, the hollow of the neck. He then tipped his head up to stare into the doubting eyes, “Oh, Jim, I love you, too, so much. I…” lost for words in his happiness. “I can’t even begin to tell all I‘m feeling. Hell, it may take a life time.”

Smiling down into the love filled eyes, Jim stated, “Take your time, I don’t want to rush you.”

fini


End file.
